Shelley Nordham of the Rural Community Assistance Corporation (RCAC) outlined RCACs suite of support services and loan products for small and rural communities, emphasizing hands-on technical assistance for navigating application portals (FAST, USDA RD), rate studies, policy development and regional collaboration. She described loan products for bridging grant reimbursement timing (bridge loans/revolving lines of credit), short-term infrastructure loans with interest-only draw periods, and loans secured by real estate for well development.

RCAC noted eligibility: projects must be in rural communities (population under 50,000) and primarily serve low-income communities; eligible borrowers include nonprofits, government entities and federally recognized tribes. Nordham urged attendees to contact RCAC loan officers or technical-assistance staff and to visit the CFCC handbook for detailed loan-term information.

Why this matters: Small and rural communities often lack internal capacity to complete complex funding applications and to bridge reimbursement timing. RCACs TA and bridging-finance options can enable projects to move forward while awaiting reimbursements or grants.

Practical details: RCAC can provide bridge loans to pay contractors while utilities await state reimbursements (which can take 60
120 days for state processing), offers interest-only draw periods for construction, and can amortize loans over multi-year terms depending on project type. RCAC staff were available in breakout rooms for follow-up.